Never say ‘no’ to a life changing opportunity. You will regret it.
With just over 3 weeks to go until my flight out to Spain, I thought it would be appropriate timing to set up a blog which will serve the purpose of keeping my friends and family (mainly my mum) up to date with what I am doing with my life over the next year.
For those of you who don’t know, I am a student at the University of Kent and as part of my degree I have to complete a year abroad. I will be taking up a position at a school in Reus as a British Council Language Assistant and I am really looking forward to it.
As well as teaching English, I am hoping that my Spanish will significantly improve and that my Catalan lessons in second year might come in handy, particularly as the school’s main language of instruction will be Catalan. Also, needless to say that I am very much looking forward to savouring all the Spanish food and drinking plenty of sangria!
I can’t report about too much just yet as I am still spending the majority of my time sitting in a chair at the pool making sure people don’t drown, but I hope you will stay tuned to find out more about life in Spain!
Given the current global environment, please excuse my recent blog hiatus! On what turned out to be my final weekend in Spain (😔), my parents came to visit me and we caught the train down to Valencia for the weekend.
After checking into our AirBnB, we went to one of their restaurant recommendations, La Cigrona, and despite having to send back some cold paella and some uncooked cod, my parents were very impressed with their daily menu.
Having filled our stomachs, we walked all the way through the beautiful Turia Gardens down to the City of Arts and Sciences. We were lucky to catch some late afternoon sun and to find some very aromatic orange trees (reminiscent of childhood holidays in Lanzarote) which I couldn’t take enough photos of!
The next day we spent the day wandering around Valencia. We visited the cathedral in the morning, before witnessing the amazing mascletà display (basically a daytime firework display!) in front of the town hall! The display takes place every day during the first 19 days of March as part of Valencia’s biggest festival, Les Falles.
We visited the central market, which had a very impressive ceiling, and we also discovered the stunning gothic silk exchange! Dad and I very much enjoyed playing around with the angles and light falling on the columns.
In the evening we sat and enjoyed a beer in Plaza de la Reina before watching part of a procession where the themes of the Falles (large artistic constructions) were displayed. After dinner we took a walk to Ruzafa to look at the light displays, which were pretty cool!
There was one thing we all could not wrap our heads around, which was the fact that there were little kids all over the place setting off firecrackers, having been supplied them by their own parents! It was almost as unsafe as the correfoc I mentioned in this post! But I guess it’s all part of a tradition!
On Saturday (29th Feb) we went with AEGEE to Montserrat. From Tarragona it took about 2 1/2 hours by train each way. On the mountain there is a monastery which would have had great views if it hadn’t been so overcast! However the buildings were really pretty!
After lunch we had to meet up with the group again before starting to hike up to the top. I think this was the first time we ever left anywhere with AEGEE at the exact meeting time!
We reached the first viewpoint and stopped to take some pictures, and many of us thought this was as far as we were going but Adrian soon told us that no there was much more to see from the top (we were already pretty high!!)
Then we got to the top of the funicular (which you can see from the monastery) and thought that that was as far as we were going, only to be told again that nope, we were going to the top! That’s where it really started to get steep. Some parts were almost vertical!
Eventually we all made it safely to the top and what we could see of the view was definitely worth it, even if it was a little windy! I was glad I had brought so many layers, having almost regretted it on a very sweaty ascent!
Coming down was actually much harder as it was slippy and steep! Definitely not one for those with weak knees! I was so achey for the next couple of days but it was worth it for the views, exercise and photos!!
Until I went to Germany on my gap year, I was completely unaware of the idea of Carnival in February. Our carnival in Pewsey at home is in September (as well as the Wheelbeerow Race)… But in England the most we stretch to at this time of year is Pancake Day (one of the best days of the year) on Shrove Tuesday. Of course in true British style, we had to celebrate pancake day (although a couple of days late as I only got back late on actual Pancake Day having flown from the UK). Everyone had fun flipping the pancakes and I miraculously managed to pull off a double flip! (I’m sure I will never manage that ever again, it was definitely a fluke!!)
So, last weekend was Carnaval in Tarragona. Similar to the carnivals we know in the UK, there are processions with floats accompanied by people, with each float having a different theme. I was actually at home for most of the celebrations but I did experience some part of carnival when we went to Cos Blanc in Salou at the end of January, which was a carnival procession as well as a giant confetti party! (I am still finding confetti EVERYWHERE…) Valentina told me that the one here in Tarragona at the weekend was beautiful so it’s a shame that I missed it!
On Tuesday evening when I got back, the bars in the square below all started closing their terraces and people started gathering, so I knew something was going to happen, but I didn’t know that people would be running around with fireworks!
Maddie and I were terrified but I think this was justified as there were no barriers and Maddie ended up getting burnt by one of the ashes! Let’s just say that Spain and England have very different ideas of health and safety! Next time I’ll definitely just watch from my balcony! A couple of the teachers at school saw my instagram stories and said they also think it’s crazy so at least I’m not the only one!!
This blog post is going to be about a very important topic which has been grating on me for the last five months… TEA in Spain!
Being British, I must first make a disclaimer that we are as precious about our tea as Italians are about pizza. Faced with the prospect of making tea in a saucepan for a year, one of the first things I bought when I arrived in Tarragona was a kettle for our flat, as there wasn’t one provided (I maintain this is one of the best decisions of the year as it allows me to have at least one decent cuppa per day…).
One of the funniest things that came out of this kettle purchase was the fact that Valentina’s mum said to her “of course she bought a kettle, she’s English, how is she going to make tea otherwise?!” So thank you Valentinas mum for being so understanding! Valentina just laughed! 😔
In our break times at school, my fellow teachers and I head over to the nearest cafe to get away from the noisy adolescents and to have our second breakfast, of course. My regular order is a black tea with milk, which I’m sorry to say has absolutely nothing on a strong brew of Yorkshire Tea! The only saving grace is that the biscuits are usually Lotus-style caramelised biscuits or crispy chocolate wafers which are both pretty tasty (although still wouldn’t beat a digestive or a hobnob).
Over the course of 5 months I have seen at least 3 different members of staff give me very odd looks when I ask for a tea with a dash of milk, either shocked that I want so little milk or shocked that I want milk at all with my tea! The most disappointing is when they give me warm, frothy cappuccino milk and not what they call ‘natural milk’ 😔 (I have since worked out that I have to ask for black tea with a little natural milk to get the closest resemblance of a proper cuppa).
However, I cannot complain too much because at the end of the day it is still a cup of tea, and even if it doesn’t quite satisfy my tastebuds as much as I want it to, it keeps me going until I can get home and get a proper brew, and it’s only €1.40!
At the end of January my friend Lauren came to visit me. We had a lovely but very busy weekend!
On Friday we went to Barcelona and managed to see nearly everything we wanted to. The highlight of the day was definitely the Sagrada Familia! We had an audioguide, but I was so busy taking pictures that I only listened to a couple of the info points, although I did learn that the windows are different colours on the different sides to maximise the morning or evening light! The light was simply stunning; photographer me couldn’t get enough!
After the Sagrada Familia, we had lunch in Five Guys (so Spanish, wow) and then headed up to Parc Güell as we also had tickets to visit there too! Luckily this meant that we could get the bus up the hill (which is very steep) and back down, for free! This was perfect as we had vastly underestimated the temperature as it was a tropical 20 degrees, and had dressed with far too many layers!
When we came back down, we started to queue for churros but a young couple came up to us and gave us theirs that they hadn’t been able to finish, so we got free churros yay!
Then we went to the Gothic Quarter, just before the sun was setting (golden hour). The light on the cathedral was so pretty! There was a group of street performers who were amazing but unfortunately the police came and they had to stop 😦
After that we went for a drink in Plaça Reial, before walking up the Ramblas and Passeig de Gràcia to the train!
In the evening we had friends over for dinner at home and Valentina cooked mushroom and squash risotto (very tasty). In true Italian style, we didn’t sit down to eat dinner until 11:30pm and then we ended up staying up until 3am!
On Saturday we got up late, had some pastries from Granier and then went to the Cathedral and the Pretorio. We had lunch on the beach, making the most of the warm sunny weather whilst it lasted!
In the evening there was a winter festival in Salou, which was a carnival with floats throwing confetti! Basically it was just a giant confetti party which was fun until we realised we had managed to bring it all home with us! I’ll be finding confetti everywhere for weeks…!
It is said that the Catalans are very scatological people. That is to say, lots of their traditions revolve around obscenity.
There are two main traditions in Catalonia at Christmas time that are scatological. The first one is a little man called the caganer. He is a small character who is hidden in the Catalan nativity scene. There is probably no better way to explain what he looks like than to show a picture:
Another tradition is that of the caga tió, or the pooping log. He arrives on the weekend of the 6th of December and stays in the family home until Christmas. The children of the family ‘feed’ him by putting out plates of food, which he ‘eats’ overnight. Either on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day, after dinner, the children hit the log and make it poop presents such as turrón (nougat) or almonds.
Nobody really knows where either tradition comes from but it’s definitely very odd!!
In the middle of November, my parents came to visit me. We had a lovely weekend and I showed them around Tarragona and Reus.
On the Friday we spent the day exploring Tarragona, which involved visiting the Roman Pretorio and of course a visit to the Cathedral. For lunch we stopped at La Caseta de les tres Bessones for some tapas and a caña in the sun and in the evening we had a lovely meal at the restaurant below my flat, El Pigot.
On the Saturday there was the festival of the new oil in Reus, which we obviously had to go and experience! At this time of year, the first harvest of olives is ready and so they are picked and pressed to make olive oil. The process of tasting the oils involved going to every hut (picture a German Christmas market but with each stall selling olive oil) and tasting their oil and their olives, but we had to be careful not to let any drip on our clothes!
On Sunday my dad and I went to the amphitheatre whilst my mum and Valentina were at mass at the Cathedral, and in the afternoon we went to the port to eat paella (this time not seafood though, yuck!). One was with duck and mushrooms and the other was with pork ribs, butifarra (a type of Catalan sausage) and sweet peppers, which were both delicious but so filling!
On Monday morning we just had breakfast together before they had to get a train to Barcelona and I had to go to work, but it was lovely to see them and I can’t wait to go home for Christmas now!
Two weeks ago I wrote that this post would be published very soon, but I have ended up being so busy that I haven’t had time to write anything whoops! But here is my post on what Marina and I got up to when I went to visit her.
I arrived reasonably late so we just went to her parents flat and had a YUMMY dinner (unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures because I was too hungry, but her mum had made her own tortilla de patatas which was delicious, and prepared a spread of traditional Spanish food, YUM).
On the Saturday we got up late and Marina drove us to a small town (one of the most beautiful in Spain apparently) called Vilafamés, which was, admittedly, very pretty. For lunch we went back to her parents and we had Valencia paella, which I can confirm was much tastier than the seafood paella I had tried in Tarragona, before having a lovely 2 hour siesta in the afternoon.
In the evening there was a medieval festival in Marina’s town, l’Alcora. It was definitely interesting and we played a prank on one of her friends that I didn’t speak any Spanish which was funny because let’s say his English wasn’t the best lol. I had a steak sandwich for dinner and about 6 glasses of wine, before we went to a bar to continue drinking (of course). The highlight of the evening was definitely pink tequila which tasted like strawberries and cream and not at all of alcohol! Finally at 6AM (!!!) we went to bed and the next day we definitely didn’t feel like freshly scrubbed lettuces!
Of course, my blog posts wouldn’t be complete without pictures…
When I was on my gap year in Germany between 2016 and 2017, I met lots of new people from all over the world. One girl I met is Marina, who is from a small village near Castellon de la Plana, and the second weekend of November I had organised to go and visit her. Given that Marina had to work all day on Friday, I decided to go to València for the day as I would be down that way anyway.
Another friend I met in Germany was Jesus, whose mum now lives in Valencia, so I messaged her and asked if she was free, and she was, so she was my personal tour guide for the day!
My first impression of Valencia was that it was very grand. Valencia North train station is beautiful and the ceiling in the ticket hall is decorated with typical mosaic features.
Yaika (jesus’ mum) met me there, and we wandered together towards the cathedral and the basilica, passing through the square in front of the post office and the government building. We stopped for lunch in Cien Montaditos (a chain restaurant in Spain that do little slices of bread with various toppings, but we went for the nachos and cheese and bacon chips, #health ). Afterwards we went to look inside the cathedral but as i was only there for 6 hours we didn’t have enough time this time to walk around it. I’ll definitely have to come back!!
Behind the cathedral, there is another lovely square that actually had nearly as many pigeons as it did people haha! We went to see the ancient ruins of the city which have been preserved underneath the city. Then we went to Serrans Gate which was one of 12 gates that formed part of the ancient city wall.
We caught the bus down to the arts and science centre to save ourselves a 2km walk. This was, I think, my favourite part of Valencia because the light was perfect for me to take some pictures!
Once the sun set, we headed back to the city centre as I had to get a train up to castellon to meet Marina, but I will definitely be returning to Valencia in the future! My next blog post will be about what Marina and I got up to, as there was a medieval festival which was great fun!
Having been in Spain now for just over a month, I thought I’d reflect on how it has been and what I wish I had expected before coming.
1 – the Spanish timetable
Breakfast at 11:30, lunch at 3, tea at 6 and dinner at 10? In short, I can’t hack it. Firstly, I end up having two breakfasts because I can’t last til 11:30 with no food. Having lunch at 3 means you end up wasting the entire afternoon cooking and eating (so I don’t normally eat til 4pm). A small snack at 6/7 means that really, I’m not that hungry for dinner, so I start cooking at 9 to eat at 9:30/10pm. By the time I’ve finished and washed up, it’s nearly 11 o’clock most nights so time for bed in order to get up at 7! However, sleeping is no mean feat as my body is still trying to digest dinner…! Basically, it’s going to take some adjusting to… at least the food is tasty!
Yummy cake!
2 – it rains
Not much, but a lot. See my previous post here. I really wish I’d brought waterproof shoes as I sit here with soggy socks…! (YUM)
Big puddle!!!
3 – everyone is so welcoming
And I mean everyone! Even the lady in the bank was very happy to help me and asked me how I was getting on. And the lady in the €10 shop helped me and Valentina when we were using the wrong word for an electric whisk! Batidor and amasador are different things apparently…!
4 – it’s exhausting
I’m exhausted. Getting to know so many new people means A LOT of socialising which super fun and important but also so tiring! It’s also taxing trying to speak or listen to up to 5 different languages every day – English in the school, Spanish at home with Valentina, Italian with her and her friends, Catalan with my co-workers and Catalan classes and German with some other friends! My brain is struggling to cope and I’m getting very confused!! Hopefully it’ll get easier…
5 – everything is casual
Before arriving at my school, I asked my tutor what the dress code was, to which she responded, “we don’t have one, just use your common sense”. Coming from the English education system, it is incredibly weird to see the headmaster wearing a rugby polo shirt and jeans, and other staff members wearing slogan t-shirts and ripped jeans! Even the lady in the bank was wearing jeans and a t-shirt! But I won’t complain, it’s super comfy!
6 – 15 degrees is cold
Trust me, after 3 weeks of weather in the high twenties, we were hit last week by an extremely cold morning – 15 degrees. This feels like you’ve just stepped into a fridge when the day before you were sunbathing on the beach! Of course, during the day it warmed up to a balmy 25 degrees, but the morning was freezing! I’m going to need the heating on please mum and dad when I come home this weekend!
7 – markets are cheap
Last weekend Valentina and I went to the market in Bonavista and I bought about 12 kilos of fruit and vegetables for less than €15! And it’s all so fresh and tasty!
All of this for €12!!
8 – alcohol is dangerously cheap, and tasty
Another tasty thing is, of course, alcohol – you can’t go to a country and not savour their alcohol. Here, SANGRIA! Very dangerous because it’s so cheap. Also, with every drink you usually get a tapa, or you can order one – my favourite is patatas bravas – mmmm! A specialty of this region is also vermut, which I tried this week and would also recommend!
Una caña and bravas… yum!
9 – water tastes like swimming pools 😦
The tap water here is drinkable, however it tastes like chlorine because that’s what they use to purify it. So, we buy bottled water from the Spar for €0,95 for 8 litres which tastes much better and isn’t too expensive. I’m sorry for ruining the environment with more plastic, but the bottles are recycled (as far as I know…!) It also gives me an opportunity to do a bit of exercise – one time I left the spar and a man said to me “estás muy fuerte” (you are very strong) as I was carrying 2 bottles, so I guess I can take that!
10 – everyone wants to practise their English with you!
Having been here for just over a month now, I have still only had one conversation in Spanish with my coworkers: the problem being they ALL want to practise their English with me! At least Valentina and I speak Spanish at home! Although it is frustrating as I want to improve my Spanish, it does mean that I’m not completely forgetting my English!
That is all for today, folks! More to come soon so stay tuned!!
Fresca como una lechuga bien frotada 